Xodus and Bacchanal join forces for 2023
Launch set for November 19
Published:Friday | November 11, 2022 | 10:36 PMStephanie Lyew/Gleaner Writer -
Revellers are in for a special experience come November 19 during the Xodus Sweet Treats launch following the announcement that two of the island's biggest carnival bands, Xodus Carnival and Bacchanal Jamaica, have joined forces for Carnival in Jamaica 2023.
The partnership will come to life at the band launch event, which will take place at the Mona Hockey Field in Kingston.
According to Kamal Bankay, chairman of the Jamaica Carnival Stakeholders Committee and director of Xodus Carnival, there was a desire for Carnival in Jamaica to be a more unified experience.
"Carnival in Jamaica is supremely about the notion that two biggest brands in carnival are coming together for one full experience during the carnival season," Bankay said at a media briefing held at TacBar.
Xodus and Bacchanal notably agreed to and later hosted the 2022 staging of Carnival in Jamaica in July this year following the Government's announcement of the reopening of the entertainment sector during the waning of a challenging pandemic period. Now the two bands have their sights set on even greater collaboration.
Xodus Carnival director Scott Dunn, and project manager Pierre Gobault and Bacchanal Jamaica's directors Michael Ammar and Courtney Sylvester, this afternoon, signed an agreement which sees the strengthening of Carnival in Jamaica. Bacchanal's inclusion in the Xodus team will add to an all-star Caribbean line-up, including co-owners: Dream Entertainment (of Dream Weekend Fame) and Yuma, one of the major players in mas out of Trinidad and Tobago, along with section partners and disc jockeys from across the Caribbean.
"Our history is about collaboration: it's something we believe in strongly. We believe that friendships can grow into good business partnerships. When we got involved in carnival for the first time in 2019, Michael, rather than seeing us as a competitor coming on the scene and taking the route of being cut-throat, he was welcoming and very helpful," Dunn shared.
He added, "Working with Bacchanal has been a pleasure. To have Bacchanal now come on as part of Xodus and have their designers come with their designs. Also, it's going to be mind-blowing to people."
Dunn explained that one of the major complaints they've been accustomed to hearing after each carnival staging is the separation between friends choosing different bands to join and not being able to interact with them on the road.
Ammar, who spoke of Carnival in Jamaica's history of collaboration, pointed to the inception of Bacchanal Jamaica.
"Twenty-two years ago, seven groups in carnival formed Bacchanal Jamaica about the same time [as] here, and we signed an agreement. For the past 20 years, we have carried the carnival torch in Jamaica and tried to do our best to make our carnival the best in the world. Four carnivals ago, Xodus and Xaymaca came out on the road, and it blew up Carnival in Jamaica more; they brought a whole new excitement on the road and a whole new look. For the past couple of years, we've had a partnership with Xodus to share some of the back logistics to make things work on the road," Ammar said.
"This year, after we had carnival 2022, Scott, Pierre, and I started a conversation about deepening and widening this partnership, and when it started, I had a wish list about what I'd like to see happen, and Scott and Pierre said send it to me; I did that, and they accepted everything excluding minor details which didn't matter. In the spirit of true partnership, they extended their hand of friendship to us, and we gave it back to them," Ammar continued.
Ammar said the Bacchanal Jamaica team fully supported the wish.
The resounding message at the media briefing was, "carnival is unity, and unity is strength".